Question 1

How long is this cable?

Accepted Answer

19 inches

Question 2

Can this power a 3.5" HDD?  Is USB 3.1 enough power?

Accepted Answer

It was the "Surface" slabs that I first saw with only the one single oval USB cord, data and many watts of power combined. The industry calls it "USB-C with P.D.", but 2020 or later I expect to wait for the first of these "readers" that spin up the motor in a BlURay or mutli-terabyte H.D. by USB...all of those motors 12Volts

Question 3

Can an SSD actually take advantage of the USB 3.1 @ 10Gb/s, or is it still limited by the SSDs interface of SATA III @ 6Gb/s?

Accepted Answer

If the interface on the SSD is SATA, then it will have to perform within SATA specifications for protocol, signalling, etc.  Unfortunately it will be limited by the SATA interface regardless of the adapter you use.

Question 4

will this sata to usb adapter work with an optical drive?

Accepted Answer

No. It will fit desktop drives (ODs & HDDs), but USB ports do not provide the 12-volt power they require to operate. Laptop drives and SSDs run on 5-volt power. It will NOT fit laptop ODs as those omit the 12-volt pins, thus the power connector is smaller.

Question 5

How long is the cable?

Accepted Answer

The specifications tab says 20.3" and that is right.

Questions & Answers